NEW DELHI: The tight situation of public finance was evident as data on Monday showed that the fiscal deficit at the end of five months of the current fiscal year has touched 75% of the full year estimate.

Data released by the finance ministry showed the fiscal deficit stood at Rs 4 lakh crore in the April-August period or 74.6% of the full year target of Rs 5.4 lakh crore. The deficit was at 65.7% of the full year target during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

The government is battling a tight fiscal situation on the back of an expected increase in oil subsidies due to the sharp depreciation in the rupee against the dollar as well as higher outgo on food subsidies for the current financial year. Finance minister P Chidambaram has said that the government will not breach the red-line of the fiscal deficit and every effort would be made to keep it within the target of 4.8% of GDP.